Katie & Abbey. Founders - The Delilah Collective

The Delilah Collective is a curated capsule collection company with a focus on vintage, pre-owned and pre-existent. Established in 2020, The Delilah Collective is a place for women to unite in their quests for a kinder approach to sourcing fabulous wardrobes. With our own mission in sourcing romantic, feminine, yet cutting-edge and contemporary items, we search to equate sustainability and circular fashion within a new norm in our everyday shopping habits. We're all about curating conscious collections and providing a community of attentive acquisitions. Our exclusive curated capsule collections focus on femininity and comfort, with each piece abundantly and lavishly imbued with its own history and identity.

How did the two of you meet and what stimulated you to start a business?

'The two of us became friends back at the University of Nottingham back in 2015 and we have been inseparable ever since. We both studied French with History and before long realised that we both had a love for all things antique, second hand and vintage. In more recent years, Katie and I knew, that together, we could start our own passion project, selling and providing a space for the modern woman to shop for her wardrobe with the added benefit of being more sustainable and kinder to our planet.

With sustainability in the fashion industry at the forefront of many of our daily consciousnesses, it seemed like the best time to launch our uniquely timeless collections. What truly inspired us to set up ‘The Delilah Collective’ was the vision that we could open the doors for all women to dress fashionably and sustainably. After Abby returned from 4 months of travelling in March 2020, Katie and Abby reconvened and decided that it was time that they launched their vintage business once and for all.

An idea that had been brewing for many years during our university studies finally launched officially in August 2020.'

What were the first steps in building your business?

'The initial process of building the business consisted of many virtual meetings (wine included) and a beautiful photoshoot modelling our first few collections in a Lavender field in Surrey. Our instagram page showcases all of our pieces and represents what we want to achieve for the Delilah Collective: femininity, timeless yet contemporary style and looks that can be incorporated into the modern woman’s wardrobe.'

What are you business goals?

'Our goal is to provide a distinctive and unique selection of beautiful items, whilst also commemorating creators throughout the century and beyond, and elevating and propelling a more circular economy and approach to shopping.'

Did you / are you facing any challenges launching a small business?

'One of the key challenges we have faced thus far has been the person to person promotion of our business. With lock down, it’s meant that we have had less of an opportunity to sell at vintage fairs and markets, a space which we really hope to be able to expand into, so that we are able to meet and chat to our customers face to face. A face behind a brand is so important and we would love to be able to grow and expand those real connections with our customers. Online in great, but it’s not always the same!'

'Another thing that we have found is that a lot of our pieces are a little bit more special than your average everyday wear; we specialise in dresses that are perhaps more focused towards event wear rather than chilling at home. So, with the lack of events over lock down, we’ve found new ways to style them to keep them accessible and appealing to our everyday customer looking for their everyday looks.'

Do you have any tips and tricks for anyone hoping to launch their own business?

One of our key tips is to first of all DO YOUR RESEARCH. It’s really important to consider your competitors and look at the current market for your product. Within the realm of sustainable fashion, it’s becoming more and more competitive and we initially struggled to find our feet but with time, we’re building connections and establishing ourselves within the vintage fashion community. Another huge tip is perseverance. Things aren’t going to take off immediately - it takes hard work and grind and so don’t have too many expectations with it all to pick up straight away. Keep at it, with time the hard work does pay off.'

Is this business a side hustle to a full time role or a full time job? How do you manage your time?

'Currently operating as a side hustle with a long-term goal to run the business on a full-time basis. Abby works as a French and Spanish teacher and Katie is currently working at HURR, a platform for renting your wardrobe. We’re planning to launch a couple of our more expensive pieces on HURR in the coming weeks so that people who would prefer to rent our pieces for a one-off occasion, and for a fraction of the price, there’s an option available there in our business model. We have weekly business meetings over zoom to update each other on our individual Delilah projects. We’re a flexible duo and work amazingly well together. Our visions are in sync and often we bounce ideas off each other which helps grow the business.'

What’s it like working in a team with one another? Is it hard? Do you ever have differing opinions?

'WE LOVE IT! Working with Katie is a dream, she is so creative and inspiring. Her vision is unparalleled and I am in awe of her energy. We’re a unique pair, we really are. Working in a team is never stressful or consuming, we really function well together and we love every minute. On the whole, Katie is the creative force and Abby is the business brain. Katie runs the social media and Abby runs the PR. Yet, Katie has managed many of our recent sales and Abby has dealt closely with the Depop and other social media channels like Facebook. We blend well and it can often depend where we’d like to push our energy.'

Are there any helpful sites, courses or programmes you would recommend for anyone looking to launch their own business?

'We have found that the best way to engage with our followers on social media is through story mentions and we have tried our hardest to build up engagement though polls and regular Q&As.'

'We haven’t used any specific programmes or courses to help prepare for launching our own business yet, we do believe that between the two of us we have combined expertise which has helped to build The Delilah Collective successfully so far. We have done a fair amount of personal research into ‘fast fashion’ with our favourite reads including Lauren Bravo’s ‘How to Break up with Fast Fashion’, ‘Fashionopolis’ by Dana Thomas and also the chapter ‘Get the Look’ by Pandora Sykes in her series of essays ‘How Do We Know We’re Doing it Right?’.

The throw away culture that is ingrained in society has been the biggest push for us to start TDC. We want to be able to re-establish that connection that we should have with our clothes so that they aren’t landing up in landfill a year or two after we have purchased them. The stats are shocking. Fast fashion companies such as: Pretty Little Thing, Missguided, Boohoo are knowingly feeding into this culture and destroying our precious environment. The worst thing is, we often buy into this consumer culture because a dress is £12.99 and it will only end up in landfill if we don’t buy it, so why not? There is such a prominent clash in opinions even within our immediate circles on the affordability of fast fashion versus the sustainability of fast fashion. It goes without saying that beyond trying to sell our dresses, we’re building a consciousness in our following on how rewarding and effective vintage fashion can be. We need to get out of this cycle of buying a dress once and never wearing it again, it needs to be a dress we love, adore, cherish. One we can wear over and over again with pride and joy!'